People keep asking what it means to invoke the insurrection act: That authority is now found in Section 253 of Title 10 of the U.S. Code, which gives the president the right to take military action within a state when “any part or class of its people is deprived of a right,
privilege, immunity, or protection named in the Constitution and secured by law, and the constituted authorities of that State are unable, fail, or refuse to protect that right, privilege, or immunity, or to give that protection.” You mean like free & fair elections or the right
to free speech or the right to religious liberty or the right to equal protection under the law?
That’s the same authority invoked during the civil rights era by Presidents Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy to deploy troops to the South to enforce desegregation in defiance of governors. The Insurrection Act was last invoked in 1992 under President George H.W. Bush,
after Peter Wilson, then-governor of California, requested help to quell widespread riots after four police officers charged in the beating of Rodney King were acquitted.
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
